I just got back from the extended weekend of Phish shows at the Creek and Alpine. I know that I'm a bit older, and saw most of my shows back in the 90's - I must say that this was a real gem...especially after what I(we) witnessed back in 2003. I never thought I'd say this, but the Phish is coming back into their own again...maybe a bit different in style and energy and none the less exciting.

And on another, lighter note, I want to hand it to all of the younger generation of "granola kids" - you are all very friendly and a blast to be around, it reminds me of my heyday. Now that I am established, have kids, a wife, and some money - I can't wait to continue to give back.

I really enjoyed the weekend. Tweezer and Bag were two of my fav's and still are, so I was floored when hearing both to open this show.

I also what to reiterate with what someone else said earlier - I enjoy the new stuff and to boo songs like Joy and TTE, etc...remember what Trey says.."This is your song too!"

The entire weekend was high energy, high polish, near flawless in the band's playing. Clearly they're enjoying themselves. I've been seeing Phish since 1993 and they're playing as tight as ever. Sure, the complete out-there weirdness may not creep into every show but we need to appreciate a whole bunch of facts surrounding these guys.

First, they're in their mid-40s (like myself). You mature. You're not living out of the back of the van playing shows doing endless bong hits and what not. I believe they are taking their music more serious now than ever before.

Second, Trey's sobriety. (And of course for him I'm hopeful on this.) His playing is more constructed now rather than straight-up psychedelic. Don't get me wrong - he went someplace magical in DWD on Saturday night. But the sweetness of Reba on Sat, the Divided Sky on Sunday, and Bowie were coming from a man at a new peace. The mind anchors your fingers, and if your mind goes to a new place so the fingers.

Finally, these guys own their genre, whatever that is. So boos when Joy arises, etc., frankly, I don't think they give a damn (like they ever have). We need to appreciate that the torch they've carried, bringing jam/improv music into the digital age (LivePhish), bringing total sensory experience to live modern performance with CK5, and the complete dedication to their entire repertoire means that anyone who is fortunate enough to continue to experience this group should be some of the most thankful on this crazy little planet of ours.

AC/DC Bag: Let's get this show on the road! Flawless version, really got the crowd going.

On Your Way Down: Nice rarity that hasn't been played much. Some would say a momentum killer, but it was great to hear nonetheless. Page is just awesome on the vocals.

The Divided Sky: Also flawless, shows they can play the intricately composed songs as good as ever.

Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan: Crowd seems to be getting into this song compared to others from Joy album. I like it, and it

Water in the Sky: Faster tempo version. I like the late 90s (Walnut Creek DVD) pace better, but at least they're doing new things.

The Moma Dance: Great energy! A couple missteps at the beginning, but otherwise

Farmhouse: Pretty standard, I liked finally hearing it live, but I'm not sure everyone else felt the same way.

David Bowie: Great way to close a set! Awesome outro, as usual. Tight in the composed sections, and nice jam in the middle.

Set 2:

Ghost: Slow, funky in the beginning, the way it should be! I think they used to speed this one up too much. Nice transition at the end into...

Theme From the Bottom: One of my favorites. CK5 had some pretty cool blue/green underwater effect lights on this one.

Big Black Furry Creature from Mars: Not a huge fan of this one, but still is awesome to hear live. The band is clearly having fun with this one, which is great to see. Cactus weirdness at its best.

You Enjoy Myself: A+ on the more structured parts of this song. They are just playing these flawlessly on these. Nothing too interesting with the jam at the beginning but it progressed into a rocker in short time. Mike and Fish were on top of it at the close, with Trey having a good time dancing around. Vocal jam to close it out, seque into:

Piper: Piper seems to be where they are most comfortable jamming lately. Great slower paced start, no hurry to speed it up. The jam turned ambient and then spacey for about five minutes. Seemed like they could be heading for a dead end, but with the lights and spacey feel, it would have just been a waste not to transition into:

Also Sprach Zarathustra: Crowd went nuts, stellar performance of this, with awesome lights by CK5.

While My Guitar Gently Weeps: Crowd didn't seem crazy about it, but I thought it was perfect here. Trey nailed this one, and actually hit the high vocals.

Character Zero: Unbelievable energy on this closer. Trey is in the zone and you can tell. Might have been a short set but every minute of it was quality.

Encore:

Oh! Sweet Nuthin': One of my favorite covers, and you don't hear this one every day either. Same as On Your Way Down, Page delivers a soulful performance on the vocals. Nice twangy guitar from Trey on a nice summer night.

Cavern: Always lots of fun, and Trey remembered 99.9% of the lyrics! No small feat with this song. Thought they would get to Tweeprise, but Trey hits the opening notes to...

Joy: Unfortunately a lot of people booed when they started playing this. I'm really liking this song, and clearly it's special to Trey. I always like the solo at the end.

Tweezer Reprise: Can't beat the energy on this one. I thought for the encore they would just come out and play this one by itself, but the four song encore was a nice surprise.

Awesome show - I didn't think they could beat the first night going in, but personally I think they did. Note to myself - lower expectations before a show usually pay off for me more in the end. Second set was one of the most memorable and enjoyable sets I have seen in the last two summers. I basically found myself going nuts dancing many times between Ghost and 2001. There was definitely a type of rock/rave/funk vibe to it all and those are my favorite types of shows. The crowd seemed much rowdier than deer creek and it translated into the music. Very high grades from me. The 4 day run over all was once again amazing - though I keep getting older and question my continued phish following, they keep sucking me back in with weekends like this. See you soon phish.

This was my first show ever. Can't stop talking about it to EVERYONE. It was the most amazing day of my life. So heres my review. The venue, it was absolutely beautiful, I live in WI and it just shows our great state. The people were awsome, sure alot were high and drunk, but it was the best croud of people I've ever seen! Everybody friendly, talking, playing bean bag with a mumu pattern target (love it). So now the show...WOW!!! When I heard tweezer I knew there was gonna be a tweeprise at the end. AC/DC was amazing (the only song I called that I got right). I almost crapped my pants when I heard divided sky, and that was the best divided sky I've ever heard!!! Farmhouse was great. I think bowie was probably my second or third favorite of the night, absolutely amazing. BBFCFM FAVE OF THE NIGHT WOW!!!!! YEM was crazy. Piper was phenomenal. Gently weeps was great to hear, and what a solo!!! Joy was beautiful, when they sung, "we want you to be happy" I just felt...happy. Tweeprise was the perfect closer, treys energy was crazy, he was havin a great time!! So yeah it was absolutely amazing, next time i'm bringing 300 glowsticks instead of 100!!

My day was already made before the show even started when I saw Gordon cruising around the lot with his daughter on a golf cart. He drove right down our aisle pretty fast but I said "hey Mike" and he returned a quick "hey". He then stopped to check out a bluegrass band that was playing over by the bus parking. Quite a crowd formed but nobody was harassing him since he had his small daughter with him.

Tweezer opener (albeit a short one) was a sign of how great this show was gonna be. My buddy that came down to these shows with me is a HUGE Little Feat fan and named his dog Lowell. I am a fan of them too and I just love On Your Way Down. I watched the YouTube version from Albany '09 a few days before this and I was not expecting to see this song and we flipped when they played it. It was funny as well because no one near us on the lawn seemed to know what it was and 2 people asked us what song it was. For me, anything they did after that was gonna be a bonus. And boy it was a bonus. Divided Sky was sweet and I really like the blues soaked Stealing Time. Bowie closer is always awesome to see.

Second set Ghost was off the hook even if it was only 11 minutes or so. Tons of energy. Theme is always great and I got my first BBFCFM in 23 shows. I never thought I would headbang at a Phish show but there's a first for everything. The YEM>Piper>2001 speaks for itself. They just nailed it and the fun these guys are having just permeates the whole crowd. When Mike laid that fat bass solo during YEM, Trey was grooving and dancing on stage as hard as everyone else in that place. Guitar Gently Weeps is a classic and a rousing Character Zero got everyone singing and dancing more than ever.

The encore was one of the more unique ones I have seen in 23 shows. From a nice mellow Oh Sweet Nuthin (which i admit I did not know at the time) to a nice rockin Cavern, then back to mellow with Joy and then rocking with Tweeprise, the song selection was pretty unique. I totally agree with Waxbanks and others on the booing thing. I did not hear any boos when they played Joy from where I was on the lawn but people need to respect that tune as it clearly has some insightful lyrics that really stir up some emotions.

I mentioned in the previous review that the crowd was definitely smaller than in years past, and night two at Alpine was noticeably less populated. I arrived kind of late, pulling into the lot at about 6:30. There was absolutely no traffic. Honestly, it was a bit disconcerting. I mentally prepare myself to sit in traffic for the last mile or so getting into Alpine, so not doing so was just weird.

I had AWESOME seats for the second show, center stage row JJ, great sight lines, right in front of the sound booth, so I could not have picked a better place. The folks around me were abuzz about the first night, one guy calling it the best show of the tour. I respectfully dissent. Night one was a good, solid show with bust outs and great playing (I'm listening to the DWD -->What's the Use right now) but night two was an overall better show. Either way, the folks at Alpine got a great weekend's worth of music.

What really made this show work for me was the almost playful aspect of the set selection. The band basically teased the crowd through the first set, and just brought the house down with the second set. The Tweezer opener was, pardon the pun, just the beginning. Starting out with such a potential blockbuster definitely got the crowd amped up, well at least me, but it never really took off. It was rather restrained, not like they were holding back, but more like they were just warming up. AC/DC Bag pushed the needle a little further along and for me it brought back memories of epic Bags that launched second sets, but again no take off, it was just a nice jam. The bluesy, southern-tinged On Your Way Down was a nice surprise. I doubt it will gain a spot in the heavy rotation, but a good Page feature and songs like that really show that Trey can do it all; hard rocking solos, improv craziness, and tight blues, good stuff all. Speaking of tight, well executed songs, The Divided Sky came next and as always its one of the few songs I literally enjoy watching more than anything. The skill involved in this song is just amazing. Having said that, I seem to see it at every show I attend so I could go a year or two without. While I enjoyed the balance of the set, especially the Stealing Time from the Faulty Plan, it felt rather disjointed all things being equal. I'm not a big fan of Water in the Sky, basically I think that song should have been retired after the 1999 Big Cypress show, perhaps the only time I cheered that song. Moma Dance is a nice little funky number, but when the rest of the set isn't really funky, it's as out of place as Water in the Sky is at most shows. Following up Moma with Farmhouse only highlighted the fact that Moma was conspicuously out of place. The set ended like it began with a potential jam vehicle being relegated to a sharp David Bowie set closer. I usually find my way out to the bathroom during the closer, but not this time. I haven't seen a Bowie in a long time so I just had to stick around.

The little group around row JJ was going over what we had seen the past couple of nights and thinking back to setlists to other shows and consensus was that the jam of the set was going to be a Ghost. Like the first set, the supposed center piece started the set and we were correct, Ghost started up. It segued nicely into a Theme From the Bottom, but unlike night one's DWD -->What's the Use it wasn't a performance for the ages. The rest of the set, however, was. Starting with Big Black Furry Creature From Mars really until the encore of Oh! Sweet Nuthin' the set just went for broke. Trey was way out in front for all of it and I saw someone comment that playing While My Guitar Gently Weeps was a perfect fit for the night. Though they didn't genuinely segue from YEM to Piper to 2001, the songs did work really well together, even if at times it felt like the Piper was going to go off the rails. In what is becoming a more common experience, the encores contain three or four songs and night two at Alpine saw four songs as the encore. Joy was kind of an odd choice, really bringing the high energy down from the second set, especially when we all knew that the Tweezer Reprise was coming to ramp things up at the finish. Reprise of course was the finish, and it felt like the kick at the end of a race, a strong sprint to the finish of a very, very good show.

Overall, it was a great weekend of Phish, with some genuine highlights of the tour. I even got to see the folks at the Phellowship for the first time in a while, definitely an added bonus. I'm so glad that the Phellowship is still going strong and its core really seems to be young. Of course, that's part of the reason I don't stop by as much anymore. Being the really old dude at the set break meeting just reminds me of how long I've been doing this. Even so, a sober break in the middle of a show is always nice, even if I feel a little ancient and out of place.

I was at Chicago, both Creeks and both Alpines this year and nothing compares to the second set of the second night of Alpine. It is by far the best Phish I've ever had the privilege of attending and I've seen a lot of Phish in my day and have heard almost every show ever recorded and believe me when I tell you that this show is well worth the listen. Do yourself a favor and get this show on ALAC right away and blast off, like a rocket. Other highlights, in my opinion would be Wolfman’s from the first night of Creek (rockin’-est Phish since Indio's YEM) and Walls of the Cave from the second night of Creek, just because that’s an awesome song and was the first time played since they’ve reunited in 2009.

So this show was part of my wife and my honeymoon/ wedding reception. We had gotten married a week prior and the somewhat unofficial theme of the wedding was Joy. We have lyrics from the song on our wedding rings ("your's was the song" on hers, "that my soul understood" on mine).

Her father had died unexpectedly just a few months prior to the wedding and we were still missing him terribly. It was almost too perfect that they played that song when they did. Thanks to everyone there unknowingly celebrating with us!

This was my Phirst show!!! What an experience! Looking back I remember dancing immediately to Tweezer and never had seen alpine explode into random movement that way before. Cool first set, I didn't know much of what was going on because I was a noob, but I recognized three out of the first four songs. water in the sky and moma dance rocked!
Set Break, sitting on the lawn...
Set two! WOW. Ghost i sort of recognized and was rocked by it, I had no IDEA what was going on, then I recognized and loved the entire second set, had no idea they would play 2001 or WMGGW and loved both. what a great first show!

This was the beginning of my Journey with Phish! I was 15 at the time and in all honesty more of a casual Phan than the jam fiend I am these days!My memories of the lot are very fond, it was a really nice summer day and everyone seemed so mellow and cool, really just my kind of people, the lot microcosm is a really interesting thing to see the first time and it really is an awesome community. I loved seeing all the VW microbuses in the lot, gotta love those groovy hippie buses Something not cool I remember was the alarming presence of undercover pigs...EVERYWHERE, man! A nice young woman told me she wanted to marry Allie Kral of Cornmeal (my cousin) after noticing my Cornmeal shirt.Now about the music... I remember really digging the Tweezer, after that being a noob I didn't recognize anything they were playing until divided sky, which I really enjoyed and remember being very impressed by. It was really cool to catch that one, listening back it really was a particularly good Divided Sky for 2010,and definitely a highlight of the night. CK5 was insane all night for me, having never gone to a Phish show this was new to me and really complimented the spaciness of the jams. STFTFP was hot, and having familiarized myself with all of the Joy album when it just came out I enjoyed hearing that one at my first concert, what I REALLY wanted was a Hood though!haha

Didn't recognize anything after that until David Bowie which was a great high energy performance. BBFCFM was my first taste of how weird these guys could be, not the biggest fan of that song but it was pretty hilarious.The YEM was really far out and funky, another highlight for sure.Odd vocal jam.Very funny.Beautiful jamming moments in piper, 2001 had a great energy.While My Guitar Gently Weeps was a good cover of a gorgeous George Harrison Classic,I get the feeling as a guitarist that Trey really digs covering this song. My mom had the great idea of leaving in the middle of the encore,at the time oh! sweet nuthin' , to beat traffic flowing out of the venue, resulting in us missing Joy her favorite Phish song.

Great first show, if they play Alpine this year im definitely catching both nights, and I think this time ill be able to enjoy it much more.

This whole 4 show Midwest run was super sick. Super solid playing, nice song selection which reminded me a lot of the 2000 run minus of course the moby dick. Nice to see cars trucks buses come out again and picked up a few firsts with Dog Faced boy and and while my guitar gently weeps over the four day run along with a few others. The boys are back and the decided to bust it for the midwest! Id say this Sunday show at Alpine was 70% full tops and the boys didn't disappoint the true heads that made it out

Check this sick little vid put together from all still pics from the Midwest run:

All I can say is the extended pause during Divided Sky should proove to anyone that they are loving what theyre doing as much if not more than we love watching and listening what they do. well maybe not the more part but i digress. Ive been to 5 shows now dating back to the 03 tour(sandstone) the two 2010 shows i went to (chicago and alpine night two) will go down as my favorites so far. my only regret is not getting into the band earlier. Keep on Keeping on you groovy people and ill see ya this fall hopefully!

This should have a lot more than 4.2. It was for sure better than the first night of Alpine this year, which was also fantastic. The first set was all around solid, the second set was epic. They brought tons of energy on the Ghost, got every one going nuts with BBFCFM, had a very strong YEM, did a lot of experimenting with Piper and made a smooth transition into 2001. And I agree that anyone who booed during Joy is a complete asshole.

Great overall show - at the end of piper Trey teased Close Encounters of the Third Kind right before Alaso Sprach - in vocal jam coming out of YEM
Trey(i think it was him?) teased back home line - in Moma Dance Gordon started singing the first verse early - best YEM I have ever seen, and I have seen a lot of them! Great solid performance from everybody including the lights

My 2nd show. Saw them last year 6/21/09. Fantastic show. Keep up the great work guys. I will see you as long as you continue to tour.
The energy didnt die in set two. The only thing that killed set one was Water in the Sky...never been a fan of that tune. Really starting to dig, stealing time. I'm not stuck in 94, 97, or whatever. That had its place in time. This is phish 3.0. It may be different, but it's the same guys you love. Keep on loving and supporting what makes you happy. The best jam band, neh, the best band out there.

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